The Vimage G3/233/512K looks very much different from other G3 CPU cards I've seen (and I've seen most every design out there). The heatsink is much smaller (the 604E sized heatsinks on most other cards are overkill for the G3) and the card has a much lower parts count (less components). At first I didn't think the smaller heatsink would be a real drawback but after 6 hours of heavy use PowerLogix's Speedmeter reported a CPU junction temperature of 75C (176 F). That's about twice as hot as any other G3 CPU card I've ever tested (even a 220 overclocked to 290+MHz), and 20C hotter than my Apple G3/266 or G3/300 has ever ran. Granted the 8600 has all 3 PCI slots full and a 4 drive array inside but it also has a large fan on the side of the case cover.

I welcome reports from other vimage owners on their CPU temperatures after several hours of use. Although my PowerBook G3/250 runs 76-79C temperatures without problems, I'd rather the Vimage card have used a larger heatsink or one with taller fins than their current model. Taller fins increase surface area for better heat dissipation.

Another thing that immediately struck me as unusual was the relatively few capacitors on the card. Most G3 cards have many capacitors for decoupling, etc. but the Vimage card has almost none. The back side of the card has pads (provisions) for capacitors which are even labelled with capacitor reference designators but the pads are not populated. Possibly these pads were for another CPU Card model that shares the same PWB (printed wiring board/circuit board).

Back side of Vimage G3/233 Card

Lower parts count usually means higher reliability, but in general decoupling caps are a plus for stability and lower noise (they also absorb spikes on the supply). Based on feedback the Vimage card is a very reliable card and I only make these comments based on general design principles and comparions to other card designs.

Quality of workmanship was very good, with no cold solder joints, etc. seen. The heat sink, although smaller than most other CPU cards provided adequate cooling for the G3. CPU temperature never exceeded 34C even after many hours of use. In contrast, my Apple G3/266 MT system always ran 52C junction temperature. PowerLogix's Speedmeter utility was used to check CPU temperature.

Speed Settings: The Vimage design does not allow for changing the Bus, CPU or Cache speeds. The benefit is less chance that a user will set the card to too high a speed affecting reliability. The downside is that you can't try to squeeze more speed from the card in any way.

Technical Specifications

Specs and system/OS compatibility data is per the Vimage G3/233 Product page. (Note - link removed after Vimage later went out of the CPU upgrade business.)

The Vimage card was compatible with the Adaptec SCSI card/wide SCSI drives in my testing - all the Adaptec card connected wide scsi drives mounted on the desktop and the drives verified ok in disk first aid and in copy tests. The 8600 has a 4-drive (wide scsi) internal RAID array driven by an Adaptec 3940UW PCI SCSI Card and zero problems were seen from the first boot (without the extension) to the completion of several days of testing. Although some people have argued that the Vimage could not fix the Adaptec SCSI issue without a hardware ROM or PAL (programmalbe array logix) chip, the proof is clear to me that these cards are compatible, just as readers have reported in the main site news. Congrat's to Vimage for being one of only two G3 CPU card brands so far that are compatible with the Adaptec SCSI Cards. (other brands are compatible with SCSI cards from ATTO, Intio and HammerStorage [Jackhammer]). See my SCSI Features page for more info on PCI SCSI cards, disk drives and more.

As part of the compatibility testing, backups with verify were run with Retrospect 4.1A and an external Conner/Seagate CTT8000 tape drive under both OS 8.1 and OS 8.5.1. Using both the stock scsi connected OEM disk and the Adaptec 3940UW/Raid disks I saw one error in verification on each backup [in each test there was one file (of tens of thousands) that did not verify (not the same file)] . This happened when backing up the stock SCSI connected disk and the Adaptec driven RAID array. The errors occurred with the default settings (SCSI Manager enabled). I found it very odd that disabling the SCSI manager (per my Retrospect Workarounds page) resulted in the Tape Drive not being found (even with the stock 604E CPU card. I'm not sure this is due to the 4.1Ai version of Retrospect or the 8600/250 system but it had worked before with the Genesis using Retrospect v4.0 and other CPU cards. I've reported this to Dantz.

Compatible Machines

Vimage lists the G3/233 as compatible with the following systems and operating system versions:

• Apple Power Macintosh
  • 7300/166, 7300/180
  • 7500/100
  • 7600/120, 7600/132, 7600/200
  • 8500/120, 8500/132, 8500/150, 8500/180
  • 8600/200ZIP, 8600/250
  • 9500/120, 9500/132, 9500/150, 9500/180MP, 9500/200
  • 9600/200MP, 9600/233
• UMAX Pulsar
  • 1500, 1660, 2000, 2000VR, 2000DP*, 2250, 2330, 2330VR, 2500, 2500DP*

  * Remove the secondary processor card from UMAX's dual processor model; your accelerator card will not work with it. To use a Vpower G3 card, simply replace the original primary processor card with your Vpower G3 series card.

It's interesting that the 8600/300 is not listed nor is the 9600/300 and above. This may be due to the fact those systems would see little if any boost from a 233MHz G3 card. Physically there is no difference other than the CPU card in the 8600/250 and 300 models for instance.

Compatible OSs

• System Software:
  • Mac OS 7.5.2
  • Mac OS 7.6.
  • Mac OS 8.0, 8.1 and later [8.5.1 verified in my tests]

Unlike most Newer Tech, PowerLogix and XLR8 CPU Cards, the Vimage card does not have a removable metal bracket to allow use in low profile cases. This is a moot point as they do not show it as compatible with Power Computing models which require the lower profile cards. If you own a PowerComputing machine, check for reviews by other manufacturers listed on my CPU Cards page. Although almost all XLR8 and PowerLogix cards are compatible, some Newer Tech cards have needed special models for PowerComputing PowerCenter and other models. Be sure to ask your vendor before buying if it is compatible with your specific Mac and check their web site for other details and specifications.

The hardware design was reliable and very compatible during the tests, working fine with the Adaptec PCI SCSI cards and wide SCSI drives (Newer Tech has the only other currently shipping G3 card line that offers this feature ). Although I saw one file verification error in Retospect 4.1 backups (which did not occur with the stock 604E CPU card), Dantz (makers of Retrospect) said that the Vimage 300/150 card passed their extensive tests. I rated the hardware features/design a 8.5 (adding points for compatibily, deducting points for the lack of adjustable speed settings (popular with most readers) and the temperature/capacitor items )

The next page contains a summary and final comments on the product.